This seminar explores cultural production in Ba`thist Syria (1963 – present) – its conditions of creation, circulation, and reception – within a broad historical and theoretical framework. The course aims to contextualize and comment upon ongoing discussions surrounding modern and contemporary Syria through an introduction to historical debates in the scholarly literature on politics, aesthetics, and culture. All readings (and most films) are in English, although those with interests and abilities in other related languages (French, Arabic, Russian, German, Hebrew, etc.) will be encouraged to indulge them.
